1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape cartridge and more particularly to a tape cartridge having a mechanism for preventing a recording tape from becoming loose in the cartridge case.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a magnetic recording tape cartridge, a typical mechanism for preventing the loosening of the recording tape has been disclosed in the Japanese utility model publication 56389/1983. The mechanism is shown in FIG. 1 wherein a recording tape 2 is drawn from a tape reel 3 contained in a case body, 1 guided by a guide pin 35 and a tape guide 9. A resilient sheet 31 is supported in a fixed manner as a canti lever by fixing one end 31a, of the sheet 31 with the free end 31b being resiliently pressed onto the cylindrical surface of the guide pin 35, clamping the recording tape 2 therebetween, whereby the recording tape can be prevented from becoming loosened from the tape reel 3 and thus the recording tape is prevented from coming out of the front part of the case body 1. The above mentioned arrangement is broadly adopted in the so called VHS type video tape cartridges.
On the other hand, a typical small sized video tape cartridge, such as a 8 mm video tape cartridge, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, has been well known. In this cartridge, the case body is provided with a rotatable front lid 10 and an inner cover lid 21 at the front part of the case body 1. When the cartridge is not in use, the front lid 10 is placed in a closed position so as to cover the outer face of the recording tape 2 extending along the front part of the case body 1. Also, the inner cover plate 21 covers the inner face of the recording tape 2 over that part of an opening of a pocket 19 defined in the front bottom portion of the case body 1. When the cartridge is mounted in a tape player, the front lid 10 is rotated upward as in the inner cover lid 21 so as to open the front part of the case body 1. An arrangement of this type is disclosed in Japanese patent laid open 213072/1984 and Japanese utility model laid open 185779/1984.
The arrangement of the prior art tape cartridge as shown in FIG. 1 is made based on the art of depressing the recording tape 2 onto the guide pin 35 by the resilient sheet 31 at the position between the tape reel 3 and the tape guide 9. Accordingly, there must be provided the guide pin 35, which causes the structure of the cartridge, particularly the tape path, to be relatively complicated.
In the tape cartridge having the front lid 10 with the inner cover lid 21, such as a 8 mm tape cartridge, it is also essentially necessary to prevent the loosening of the recording tape. Namely, if the recording tape is loosened toward the inside of the case body at the front portion thereof, either the front lid 10 or the inner cover lid 21 may erroneously engage with the top edge of the recording tape during the movement of the lids 10 and 21 from the open position to the closed position. As a result, the recording tape is damaged or the lids 10 and 21 are undesirably stopped half way, whereby the tape cartridge is prevented from being removed from the tape player. Particularly in such a tape player wherein the tape cartridge is mounted with the front thereof directed downward or the vertical mounting type, if there is any space to allow loosening of the recording tape, the recording tape tends to become loosened and hang downward outside the case body. The conventional 8 mm tape cartridge is not provided with a mechanism for preventing loosening of the recording tape because of lack of space in the case body for a tape loosening preventing mechanism in such a small size tape cartridge.